Where there is no toilet: Water and sanitation environments of domestic and facility births in Tanzania

Using 2010 Demographic and Health Survey data and 2006 Service Provision Assessment survey data, home births and facility births were assessed on the adequacy of the water and sanitation environment at the time of delivery. Home environments were classified as safe if both drinking water source and sanitation facility fit the WHO/UNICEF definition of ‘improved’. Facilities were classified as safe if requisite equipment were present for infection control, and toilet facilities were present.Just 1.5% of home births took place in a water and sanitation-safe environment, while 44% of facilities that provide delivery services were water and sanitation-safe. Over 90% of hospitals and health centres were classified as water and sanitation unsafe. In total, 30.5% of all births in Tanzania took place in a water and sanitation-safe environment, with large inequalities according to zone and wealth. The Eastern Zone had the highest proportion of water and sanitation safe births, whereas the Lake, Western and Central zones all had more than 80% of births taking place in a water and sanitation unsafe environment.Benova, L., Cumming, O., Gordon, B., Magoma, M., & Campbell, O. (2014). Where there is no toilet: Water and sanitation environments of domestic and facility births in Tanzania, PloS one, 9(9): e106738.